Hi guys,
Nick is here. New to the forum, but a very long-time @hbpowerwall follower. I manage a vehicle storage facility that has quite a problem with electricity. The power company wants $25000 for the electrical hookup and 30 cents per kWh afterwords. No, thank you! I have to find a better way to spend 25 grand!
So to have a mobile power source handy around the property without using generators and hundreds of feet of wires, I bought a used GEM 825 electric utility cart with a roof rack for only $400. I didn't know much about 18650 cells back then but was hoping to hook up solar panels to the cart so it can charge itself.
Hooking up solar turned out to be a little beyond my limited understanding of DC electricity. Btw, the cart is powered by six 12v lead acid deep cycle batteries. And 72volt turned out to be quite painful to touch
. So I've decided to go the 18650 powerwall path since I needed 110V AC anyways.
After watching hundreds of hours of videos on how to harvest cells and make 18650 packs, I made a self-sufficient internet pole. 12volt system that does not have an inverter at all. Should have gone for 24volts, because the majority of internet devices use 24v. Too bad, experience comes eventually, not instantly. The pole is equipped with a 180 Ah battery pack and charged with two 100W solar panels. The average consumption is 450Wh daily, therefore the 200 Watt solar setup is plenty. Victron Charge controller is making sure the pack doesn't go over 12.5 volts. Cells are balanced with Daly BMS. DROK DC converters were used to step up 12 to 24 volts and step down to 9 and 5 volts for cameras and infrared lights to help cameras see better at night.
Nick is here. New to the forum, but a very long-time @hbpowerwall follower. I manage a vehicle storage facility that has quite a problem with electricity. The power company wants $25000 for the electrical hookup and 30 cents per kWh afterwords. No, thank you! I have to find a better way to spend 25 grand!
So to have a mobile power source handy around the property without using generators and hundreds of feet of wires, I bought a used GEM 825 electric utility cart with a roof rack for only $400. I didn't know much about 18650 cells back then but was hoping to hook up solar panels to the cart so it can charge itself.
Hooking up solar turned out to be a little beyond my limited understanding of DC electricity. Btw, the cart is powered by six 12v lead acid deep cycle batteries. And 72volt turned out to be quite painful to touch
. So I've decided to go the 18650 powerwall path since I needed 110V AC anyways.After watching hundreds of hours of videos on how to harvest cells and make 18650 packs, I made a self-sufficient internet pole. 12volt system that does not have an inverter at all. Should have gone for 24volts, because the majority of internet devices use 24v. Too bad, experience comes eventually, not instantly. The pole is equipped with a 180 Ah battery pack and charged with two 100W solar panels. The average consumption is 450Wh daily, therefore the 200 Watt solar setup is plenty. Victron Charge controller is making sure the pack doesn't go over 12.5 volts. Cells are balanced with Daly BMS. DROK DC converters were used to step up 12 to 24 volts and step down to 9 and 5 volts for cameras and infrared lights to help cameras see better at night.
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